Search the Web
The following sources are ones that we recommend to locate information on the Web.
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Search Engines
Search engines are computer programs designed to search for information on the Web.
TIPS: All of these search engines have AND default and use quotations around words to search for phrases. They also use OR to search for either of two or more words. For more tips, see UC Berkeley's Five-Step Search Strategy guide.
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Immense, with search results ranked by
"popularity". More information and help with searching Google. Try Google Scholar to find scholarly articles on your topic. |
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20+ billion pages, with search results ranked by "relevancy". More information and help searching Yahoo. |
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8+ billion pages, with search results ranked by
"popularity". More information and help searching Exalead. |
Subject Directories
Are large indexes of reviewed web sites. They are not as comprehensive as search engines but instead are created by human editors who review and select sites for inclusion in their directories on the basis of previously determined selection criteria. For more directories, besides the ones we recommend, check UC Berkeley's page.TIP: Browse by subject or search using broad subject keywords.
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40,000+ librarian selected sites. More information and help searching ipl2. |
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125,000+ selected websites which provide access to
university level research and educational tools on the Web. More information and help searching Infomine. |
| 25+ thousands sites, which provide a gateway to
resources targeted to the college and university level. More information and help searching Academic Info. |
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2+ million sites. More information and help searching Yahoo Directory. |
Based on the original Find Websites page from UC Berkeley Library.
Meta-Search Engines
Allow searches to be sent to several search engines all at once and then blend all of the results into one list. Because few meta-search engines search the largest and most useful search engine databases, use with caution. Here is a list of selected metacrawlers:
| Dogpile |
| Yippy |
For more information, check Search Engine Showdown's page on meta search engines.
Virtual Reference Libraries
Provide access to an electronic reference collection (e.g. almanacs, dictionaries, handbooks, indexes….) Try the following:
| ipl2 |
| Virtual Reference Library |
| Virtual Reference Shelf |
International Search Tools
| Search Engine Colossus | |
| An international directory of search engines featuring links to search engines from 195 countries and 38 territories around the world. | |
| Country-Specific Search Engines | |
| A list of search engines by continent and country. | |
| World Yahoos | |
| Yahoo! International | |
Resources for Keeping Up to Date
| Search Engine Watch |
| Search Engine Showdown |
Search Engines
| Boolean Logic: | AND is the default between words; capitalize OR: no ( ) or nested searching; - to exclude words, + or quotes to retrieve stop words |
| Phrase Searching: | use double quotes for phrases |
| Truncation: | no truncation is available |
| Limits: | language, domain, date, filetype, and adult contents limits |
| Fields: | see UC Berkeley's guide on limit commands in Google |
| Stop Words: | all words searched, except for operators OR and AND if they are not in a phrase |
| Links to Help: | Google Help Pages |
Yahoo!
| Boolean Logic: | AND is the default between words; accepts AND, OR, AND NOT, NOT and ( ) for nesting; must be capitalized. Also - to remove words if not using Boolean |
| Phrase Searching: | use double quotes for phrases |
| Truncation: | no truncation is available |
| Limits: | language, domain, date, filetype, and country |
| Fields: | link, site, intitle, inurl, url, hostname |
| Stop Words: | common words such as if, how, the etc. unless the words are in quotations |
| Links to Help: | Yahoo Help Pages |
Exalead
| Boolean Logic: | AND is the default between words; capitalize OR: ( ) for nested searching; - to exclude words, + or quotes to retrieve stop words |
| Phrase Searching: | use double quotes for phrases |
| Truncation: | use * |
| Limits: | use Advanced search for limits |
| Fields: | intitle, inurl, site, after: [time period], before: [time period] – use Advanced search for field searching |
| Stop Words: | ignores frequently-occurring words such as: the, of, and, or |
| Links to Help: | Web Search Syntax Help |
ipl2
| Boolean Logic: | Accepts capital AND, OR, NOT, ( ); - to exclude words, + to retrieve stop words |
| Phrase Searching: | use double quotes for phrases |
| Truncation: | * represents zero or more alphanumeric characters; ? represents one alphanumeric character within a term |
| Field Searching: | none |
Infomine
| Boolean Logic: | AND is the default; also accepts OR, NOT and ( ) |
| Phrase Searching: | use double quotes for phrases |
| Truncation: | use *. Stems automatically, which can be turned off in Advanced Search page. |
| Field Searching: | subject, title, author, keyword and description |
Academic Info
| Boolean Logic: | AND, OR (default), NOT, ( ) |
| Phrase Searching: | one, using quotes will make search fail |
| Truncation: | none |
| Field Searching: | none |
Yahoo! Directory
| Boolean logic: | AND (default), OR, - to remove, + to include |
| Phrase Searching: | use double quotes for phrases and to turn off Yahoo's automatic truncation |
| Truncation: | use *, although there is automatic truncation |
| Field Searching: | title and URL |